Television host Paul Adom Otchere has expressed happiness the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has exonerated him of any wrongdoing in the purchase of Christmas decorations at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in 2021, at least from a briefing he got from his lawyers.
A report from the human rights body justified the action by the ace broadcaster in his capacity as board chairman of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) but cautioned him against interfering in the work of Management of the company. He was advised to restrict himself purely to his functions.
The Commission also directed Mr Adom Otchere to desist henceforth, from commenting on procurement issues of GACL in the media, either in his personal capacity or as Board Chairman so long as he remains on the Company’s Board.
Reacting to the report on TV3‘s News 360 on Tuesday, November 7, Mr Adom Otchere noted that inasmuch as he is happy with the ruling, he is concerned his application to have proceedings captured live on camera was denied.
“I really wanted to film this because of the high public interest,” he said.
“Today, if they had allowed me to film, the record of the film would have been there,” he told News 360 presenter Martin Asiedu-Dartey on Tuesday.
“The film would have been played and you will realise the questions and answers and you would have seen that I had told CHRAJ that the Management threshold had been expended and therefore the Board needed to determine and approve that amount of money.”
He expressed happiness that ultimately, he has been cleared: “I am happy and thank the petitioner for the petition.”
“I am very grateful to him, so please, send my regards to him,” he concluded, referring to the petitioner, Sacut Amenga-Etego.
Later on the same programme, Mr Amenga-Etego insisted that CHRAJ indicted Mr Adom Otchere and GACL in breaching procurement processes “but when it got to the time to bite, they couldn’t bite”.
“So, they are like a dog that has barked so much but when it came to the biting part, then they refused to bite.
“And I read different motives into that.”